When humans first arrived at New Earth, they learned that in the century it took them to fly to their new home, Origin Earth had been destroyed. While they aren't sure exactly what happened, the thousands of colonists that woke up after that trip believed they were the last survivors of the human race. Not long after establishing themselves on New Earth, the colonists sent out six new generation ships. Each ship was slated to reach their new worlds about 100 years after launching. Unfortunately, a massive solar storm that occurred during the launch event not only destroyed all orbital stations, but it also left humanity uncertain about the fate of the new wave of colonists.
Devastated by the loss of life, humanity vowed to not send any actual people into space ever again. Instead, the scientific community bent their will into creating epitomes, artificial bodies indistinguishable from the human they are modeled after. When a human needs to go into space, or do something else dangerous, their actual mind is synced up with the mind of the epitome and no real harm can come to the person controlling the body.
Just as humanity dared to reach for the stars again, an alien race known as the Kemit appeared in orbit over New Earth. After delicate, and confusing, negotiations, the Kemit agree to help humans in their efforts with the use of their instant teleportation ships, Portals. For humanity, they once again have the ability to explore and harvest space, but with little to no risk to human life. There are a few strange caveats that come out of the agreement with the Kemit. For one, humans must never settle down on any other planet, they must always return home. For another, Kemit will only deal with a select few people.
For decades after the agreement with the Kemit was established, the primary point of contact with the aliens is the Arbiter, an elected official who must often represent all of humanity in any dealings with the creatures.
To Each This World starts off when a message from one of the long lost generation ships reaches New Earth and it is clear that there might actually be humans elsewhere in the galaxy. When Henry, the current Arbiter, can finally show proof to the Kemit that there are humans elsewhere, the aliens act erratically, and, using their Portal ships, reveal that the planet that sent out the message did have human life on it, until recently. It is clear that something has destroyed the human colony.
While the Kemit insist the damage was done by another race, the Dividers, and that the Kemit are protecting humans from this other force, Henry and his advisors can't help but wonder if the Kemit themselves were responsible for the attack on their long lost cousins.
Using the death of the colonists and the Kemit's own claim of the Divider threat, Henry is able to negotiate a series of trips. His plan is to go to each of the remaining five worlds, find out if there are humans surviving, and bring them back to New Earth. As a secondary goal, Henry hopes he can learn more about their alien neighbors, and maybe what exactly the threat of the Dividers really is.
Helping Henry in his journeys is a pilot named Killian. Pilots are one of the few other people allowed to interact with the Kemit directly. When it is time to send ships through the Portals, these humans help the Kemit coordinate the teleportation and, secretly, try to learn as much about the alien technology as possible. Killian, in particular, was the pilot on duty when the Kemit went to the colony world and discovered the devastation that befell the humans there. While Killian can't say for certain if the Kemit were to blame for the destruction, she is motivated to help Henry in his missions.
While most of To Each This World follows Henry and Killian's point of view, there are occasional interlude chapters that follow a young woman named Beth Seeker. It is clear that she belongs to one of the colony ships, and her people have come a long way to building a life on the strange planet they landed on. One startling feature of the planet is a massive dividing line that separates humans from the rest of the world. Beth's job as a Seeker is to cross the line and learn what she can from the other side. Each trip is dangerous, but each also has the potential for rewarding knowledge that could help her people continue to survive. As Henry and Killian make their way through the destination planets of the generation ships, the anticipation of their story joining Beth's grows as you can't help but wonder what will happen when the two stories finally come together.
Like I said above, a major theme in To Each This World is communication. Not only does Henry have to work out ways to convince multiple different offshoot people to leave their homes, but when dealing with the completely alien Kemit, it becomes clear that even after decades of working together, a lot of meaning is lost between the two peoples. As Henry dives into his work, he starts to realize that many assumptions humans had about the aliens could be very wrong, and it could spell doom for all of humanity. The big question is though, is that doom coming from the Kemit or the Dividers, whoever or whatever, they are.
The idea of a sci-fi setting where instant teleportation not only immediately renders any other form of transportation obsolete, but to use it as a way to reconnect with those that have traveled using more mundane means has crossed my mind a few times over the years (If I had to put my finger on exactly when, it was probably when I first read the prologue to Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star). So, when I read the concept behind To Each This World, I was immediately intrigued and I am happy to say, I was not disappointed by Czerneda's execution. Not only do the science fiction elements play well together, but her characters also feel natural. If any element of this story appeals to you, then you won't be disappointed in this book at all.
